We have been looking at the teachings
of scripture for the last several weeks on the manifold wisdom
of God in the accomplishment of our redemption, in the revelation
of his glory in redemption, in his great and wise provisions
of grace, the angelic interest demonstrated in redemption, overruling
evil and sin for our redemption and in the use and overflow of
Satan for our redemption. In Romans chapter 5, verses 20
and 21, I want to continue that same theme. If God the Holy Spirit
will enable me, I want to show you something of another aspect
of God's great wisdom in the redemption of our souls. My subject
tonight is stated plainly in verse 20, where sin abounded
Grace did much more abound. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Let's begin reading at verse
20. Moreover, the law entered that the offense might abound. The law entered for this purpose
that the offense might abound. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. that as sin hath reigned under
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ, our Lord. The law Paul mentions here specifically
refers to the moral law, the 10 commandments God gave to Israel
at Mount Sinai by the hand of Moses. From Adam's transgression
to the giving of the law, sin abounded. And then God stepped
in and revealed the law to expose sin, to identify sin, to condemn
sin, and to point to one who would remove sin by the sacrifice
of himself. And this is what Paul states
also concerning his own experience in chapter 7 of the book of Romans
here. Look at verse 9. He said, I was
alive without the law once. But when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died. In Holy Spirit conviction, God
comes to sinners and shows his law, identifying sin, aggravating
sin, and condemning sin. The sin was there before, but
sin now is made manifest by God's law. being revealed in the center
in Holy Spirit conviction. God, in saving grace, writes
his law on the hearts of his people. He gives us a new nature,
giving us a nature of righteousness, being made partakers of the divine
nature. but he begins his work of grace
in us in Holy Spirit conviction by causing sin to revive in us,
causing sin to be aggravated in us by the law. I was alive
without the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived
and I died. By the entrance of the law into
the conscience, the offense abounds. The law of God discovers and
exposes my sin to me. takes away every excuse for sin
and leaves me speechless. And at the same time, it stirs
up and aggravates sin. Paul asserts over and over again
the utter impossibility of justification by the law. And he asserts over
and over again the impossibility of righteousness of any kind
by the law. Larry and I were just talking
back in the office a little bit ago one of the great, great,
great eras of Puritan theology. And I have great respect for
and admiration for the Puritan writings in many ways. But one
great, great harm of Puritan theology is the notion that somehow,
while we are justified by grace without the works of the law,
we must, after that, Keep the law and obey the law and gain
righteousness and holiness and sanctification by our obedience
to the law. The scriptures are abundantly
clear. The law cannot and does not produce
righteousness. Your obedience to the law. Your
best obedience to the law, my best obedience to the law, our
highest aspirations, leave alone the things we do, our highest
aspirations of conformity to God's law are utter corruption. They're utter corruption. That
doesn't produce righteousness. Paul wrote to the Galatians and
said, who has bewitched you? Who has bewitched you, having
begun in the Spirit? Are you now made perfect by the
flesh? Of course not. Righteousness does not come by
the law. The law's purpose is to expose
sin, identify sin, and work condemnation because of sin. It cannot do
anything else. Doing that, it points us to Christ,
who is the end of the law. But where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. The law exposes sin. Grace removes sin. The law condemns. Grace removes condemnation. The law renders us guiltless. Grace removes our guilt. Where
sin abounded, grace did much more abound. As sin abounded
in human nature, Grace abounds, much more abounds in that same
nature when the Son of God assumed our nature and walked on this
earth in human flesh. When he appeared in our nature
full of grace and truth. Sin abounded in Adam. Grace abounded
in the last Adam. Sin has abounded in all the powers,
faculties of the human mind so that man's understanding, our
will, Our affections are under the dominion of sin. But in regeneration,
the grace of God much more abounds. Enlightening the mind, subduing
the will, and turning our hearts to God in faith and love. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Sin has abounded in the world,
influencing and holding dominion over men, all men, women, all
women everywhere in all the world. But now our God sending the gospel
of his grace into the world abounds in the world by his grace. Wherever
the gospel is sent, God calls out sinners by the power of his
grace from the dominion of sin from the kingdom of darkness
and translates them into the kingdom of his dear son, conquering
by his grace the very hearts of men. And he promises us that
the gates of hell shall never prevail. The word of God's grace
conquers the very gates of hell wherever God sends his word,
where God has an elect people. He sends his word and heals those
people. In time, at the time of love,
at the time appointed by God, he sends a man with his word
to proclaim his grace, and grace superabounds. And we here tonight,
you and I who know God, testify from our experience. Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. We read about one Mary
Magdalene, out of whom the Lord cast seven devils. A Philippian
jailer, to whom God sent his word and healed him by his grace. Saul of Tarsus, who describes
himself as the chief of sinners, conquered by God's grace. Old
John Bunyan speaks of God's grace to him in a mighty, mighty way,
describing what God had done for him in accomplishing his
salvation and his grace. And I stand before you. with
delightful praise to God, to tell you how God conquers sin
by his grace and conquer sinners by his grace. Where sin abounded
in Don Fortner, grace did and does much more abound. And then
in verse 21, Paul shows us the reason for God's super abundance
of grace over sin. that as sin hath reigned unto
death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal
life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Sin is a monarch with absolute
power wherever it reigns. Sin is a monarch with absolute
power wherever it reigns. Find me a person under the dominion
of sin, and I'll show you a person who has absolutely no control
of himself. Who has absolutely no control
of himself, but rather the wicked are taken by Satan's power at
his will. If God turns men over to the
power of the devil, there's nothing they won't do. The Lord God rules
men and even the men who are ruled by sin. But those men ruled
by sin are under the absolute dominion of their heart's lust. And they can't change it. They
can't change it. As sin is a monarch that rules
under death for sin, when it is finished, bring it forth death.
Even so, in just the same manner, God has determined that grace
reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ,
our Lord. Grace, too, is a monarch. Grace, as it is in the heart
of God toward his elect, reigns in the salvation of his people.
Grace, as it is in the heart of God toward his elect, reigns
over all the world. for the accomplishment of our
salvation and the throne from which God Almighty rules the
universe is described in this book as the throne of grace. Grace reigns through righteousness. Grace reigns through righteousness. That means that God never exercises
his grace. God never bestows his grace. God never performs his works
of grace at the expense of righteousness, justice, truth, and holiness. Grace reigns through righteousness
in perfect harmony with righteousness unto eternal life. Eternal life
is what God promised by his grace and prepared by his grace for
his elect from eternity Grace comes in time and makes sinners
who are by nature worthy of hail Worthy of eternal life and grace
freely bestows that life upon us in perfectly righteous ways
through Jesus Christ, our Lord. By the merits of his righteousness
and his blood, by the merits of his atonement as our substitute,
grace is heaped upon God's people. Now, that's the meaning of Paul's
words in this text. Let me elaborate a little bit
on this one statement in verse 20. Where sin abounded, grace
did much more abound. I'll give you four statements,
and I'll be as brief as I can. The superabundance of God's grace
over man's sin is another revelation of the manifold wisdom of God
set forth in our redemption by Jesus Christ. Now, here's the
first thing. Our great God. By infinite wisdom
and superabundant grace, found a way to make guilty sinners
completely innocent. Our great God found a way by
his great wisdom and superabundant grace to make guilty sinners
completely innocent. In infinite wisdom, goodness,
and grace, he contrived a way to make sinful, guilty men and
women not guilty and sinless in his sight. To men, that seems
impossible. That seems to be an utter contradiction.
How can anyone who is guilty become not guilty? How can sinners
become totally innocent? No man could ever have devised
such a mean or such a thing. But God Almighty by his foolishness
is wiser than men and by his weakness is stronger than men.
There's only one way this could be done. And that one way is
through the substitutionary sacrifice of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want
you to turn over a few pages to that very, very familiar passage
in second, second Corinthians. I'm sorry. I turned back to the
book of Job. We'll get second Corinthians in a few minutes.
Second Corinthians will come later. The book of Job. You remember
that Caiaphas, the high priest in John chapter 11, said to the
scribes and Pharisees, to the Sanhedrin, said, it is expedient
that one man should die and not the whole nation. This is what
God has ordained. It is expedient that Christ should
die and his people live. Look here in Job 33 and verse
14. Job 33, 14. Elihu instructs Job. God speaketh once, yea, twice,
yet man perceiveth it not. Verse 22, yea, his soul draweth
near unto the grave and his life to the destroyers. If there be
a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand to show
unto man God's uprightness, then he is gracious to him and saith,
deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. Now, what's this? His flesh shall
be fresher than a child's. He shall return to the days of
his youth. He shall pray unto God, and he
will be favorable unto him, and he shall see his face with joy,
for he will render unto man his righteousness. Now remember,
this is written, this is written as the first book to be written
in the book of inspiration. This is the very first thing
written in inspiration, the book of Job. This is the oldest book
in the Bible. In the earliest days, God taught
by his servant Elihu that God by his grace will make man innocent,
and righteous, rendering unto man God's righteousness. Verse 27. He looketh upon men,
and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was
right, and it profited me not, he will deliver his soul from
going down to the pit, and his life shall see light. That sounds
a lot like what John said almost at the end of the book. If we
confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. He causes a man, saved by his
grace, to have his flesh fresher than a child's, so that a man
a hundred years old is as a child in the kingdom of God. He's a
new creature, made new in Christ Jesus. Lo, all these things worketh
God oftentimes with man to bring back his soul from the pit, to
be enlightened with the light of the living. Those men and
women who are redeemed by the precious blood of Christ, those
sinners who believe on the son of God are made by God's mighty
operation of grace through the sin atoning work of Christ, through
the sacrifice of Christ, by the new creation of God's grace,
they are made to be pure without spot and without blemish before
God. Listen to how God describes you.
Listen to how God describes you. Behold, thou art fair, my love. Behold, thou art fair. Just in
case you misunderstand, he says, Thou art all fair, my love. There is no spot in thee. He doesn't say you're going to
be fair. He says, Thou art fair. Thou art all fair. There is no
spot in thee. In that person born again by
God's spirit, that new man in you, Christ Jesus, there is no
sin. The guilty are made to be without
guilt. The guilty, the sinful, are made
to be altogether innocent by God's almighty grace. Would you
be completely innocent of all sin before God? That's just almost too much to
imagine, isn't it? That's just almost too much to
imagine. Completely innocent. of all sin without spot before
God. The blood of Jesus Christ, God's
Son, cleanseth us from all sin. So that Don Fortner hears God
say, Thou art fair, my love. Thou art all fair. There is no spot Grace found
a way to make sinners sinless, sinners innocent, guilty sinners
without guilt before God. Second, grace found a way to
make sinful men and women perfectly righteous, perfectly holy in
God's sight. I've said this to you so many
times and I keep repeating it because it is vital. It's not
enough that we be free of guilt. If we would be accepted of God,
we must be perfectly holy, perfectly righteous, completely, perfectly,
absolutely holy before God himself. Follow peace with all men and
holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. Turn, if
you will, to Psalm chapter 24, the 24th Psalm. The 24th Psalm. Follow peace with all men and
holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. God says,
Be ye holy, for I am the Lord your God. Be ye holy, for I am
holy. Who is going to heaven? Who will
enter into heaven's glory? Revelation 24 verse. I'm sorry. Psalm 24 verse 3. Who shall ascend
to the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy
place? Here is. He that had clean hands. And a pure heart. And half not. Has never. Lifted up his soul
unto vanity. Well, brother Don, that shuts
me out. Me too. Oh, no. Oh, no. Oh, no. Grace found a way. Grace found
a way to make these defiled hearts, these defiled hands, this vain
mind to be clean and pure and without vanity before God. Turn to Revelation chapter 21.
Revelation 21. I know folks delude themselves
with the idea, well, do the best you can, be as good as you can.
God will accept that. It won't do you one bit of good.
It won't do you one bit of good. I trained my daughter, as you
did your children, to do what's right. But don't ever give them
the idea doing what's right is going to get them a foot up toward
god Oh, no No folks go to hell from the front seat in the baptist
church house Just as quickly as they do in the bed of a harlot
in the whorehouse Your works will not do you good before god. They will not this is what god
requires perfection charlie Perfection listen to this revelation 21
27 There shall in no wise enter into it Anything that defileth,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which
are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Now, look at 2 Corinthians
chapter 5. It's utterly impossible for sinful
man to make himself holy. An unrighteous man can't make
himself righteous. Bill asked, who can bring a clean
thing out of an unclean? Only one person. God Almighty
brings clean things out of unclean. God Almighty takes an unclean
Shelby Peters and makes a clean, an unclean Don Fortner and makes
him clean. God Almighty brings a clean thing
out of an unclean. This is how he does it. Second
Corinthians chapter five. Verse 17. Therefore, if any man be in Christ,
he's a new creature. Old things are passed away, and
behold, all things are become new. God makes sinners a new
creation. He doesn't come and straighten
up your old life. He doesn't come and cause you to get right
with God. He doesn't come and cause you to reform your ways.
He doesn't come and cause you to turn over a new leaf. He doesn't
come and cause you to start doing good. No! God comes in grace
and makes sinners new creatures. Old things, all your guilt, all
your transgressions, All your wickedness, all your evil devices,
all your vanity, all your lust, all that's in you by nature is
passed away. God wipes the slate clean and
behold, all things have become new. He puts in you a new nature,
a new heart, a new will. The old man's still there. The
record's gone, but the man's still there until you give up
this body of flesh. But he puts in you a new nature,
a holy nature that can not see it. It's born of God. Read what
it says now. And all things are of God. This
is God's work. This is God's work. Who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. and hath given us the
ministry of reconciliation. It's our business to go out and
proclaim to sinners reconciliation, persuading sinners to be reconciled
to God, to wit that God was in Christ, reconciling the world
to himself. God in his son reconciled the
world of his elect to himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed to us this word of reconciliation. Now we're ambassadors for Christ.
As though God did beseech you by us, we pray you be reconciled
to God. Now watch what it says. This
is how it's all wrapped up. For he hath made him sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. I don't encourage you at all
to read the junk that goes on. But some of you are aware that
the fellows go to great lengths to try to denounce the message
your pastor preaches to you week after week, and do so in many,
many ways. And one of the ways they try
to get away from this thing of Christ being made sin, us being
made the righteousness of God in him, is they say there's no
such thing as personal righteousness. No such thing as personal righteousness.
Bill Raleigh, if God makes it yours, it's yours personally. Do you get that? If God makes
it yours, it's yours personally. God says it is. Nobody can take
it from you. As God made his son sin and rewarded
his son justly, imputing our sins to him because he was made
sin. So in grace, God makes his people
righteous. Our Lord Jesus spoke of our sin,
and he said, my sins are more than the hairs in my head so
that I cannot look up. That's what he said. That's what
he said. And Frank Hall, God slaughtered his son for our sins
made his. And it was right. God acts in justice. And God
then gives us the righteousness of his son. He makes us righteous
in regeneration, putting a holy nature in us. And he declares
us righteous in free justification, giving us faith in Jesus Christ,
so that now we lift up our hearts to God and behold, the Lord is
my righteousness. And we say with Job, while in
the teeth of his sin and his accusers accusing him, I will
hold to my righteousness. I will hold to my righteousness. I'll not let it go. Not what
I perform. Well, wait a minute. No, it's
my righteousness. I really did perform it in the
person of my Redeemer. It's my righteousness. I won't
let it go. And God Almighty will reward
his elect with perfect righteousness because it's right. It's just
for him to do so. Would you be perfectly righteous
in the sight of God? Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. And God, as you believe on his
son, imputes to your own conscience, to your own mind, to your faith
in his son, perfect righteousness. The imputation takes place, God
declaring you righteous when he imparts righteousness to you
in the new birth. Now, understand this third thing. God, by great wisdom and grace, determined to procure the salvation
of our souls in the most unlikely means imaginable. Brother Todd Nybert yesterday
morning made a statement. He said, God is the God of means. I'm sorry, it's Friday night.
He's preaching for John nine on the healing of the blind man
said, God is God of means. He uses means. And it's marvelous. He always uses means that are
useless for the means intended to accomplish and amazing. David
goes out to slay Goliath. He goes out to slay the mightiest
warrior known in the world. And he does so with a slingshot. God uses means. Elisha is going
to heal the waters of Jericho, and he does it by pouring salt
into the water. God uses means, but the means
he uses are in themselves utterly insignificant to accomplish anything. God uses the preaching of the
gospel to save his elect, but the preacher has no ability.
The preacher can't do anything and God won't use anything the
preacher brings he won't use anything the preacher brings
the uh, brother frank is fixing to go down past those folks down
in charlotte and uh He's a sharp fella, he's a sharp fella, but
I promise you my friend God won't use anything that's in you by
nature Nothing Nothing the apostle paul
was probably the most brilliant mind on earth in his day and
maybe the most brilliant mind ever to walk on this earth. But
he was a brilliant man. Highly trained. Trained with
greater skill in reason, in logic, in religion than any man in his
day. He was trained at the feet of
Gamaliel. But Rexy was sent to preach the
gospel to the Gentiles. And the Gentiles would look at
that man being trained at the feet of Gamaliel, and they'd
say, well, what's that? What's that? They despised the
Jews' religion, and they despised the Jews' training. They looked
upon it as utterly contemptible, something utterly useless and
meaningless. That's the man God will use,
the one that has absolutely nothing to offer. But, oh, here is the
wonder of wonders. God chose and determined to make
his people holy and righteous without sin, giving us life eternal
by the power of his blood and the power of his grace through
the sin atoning death of his darling son through the humiliation
of our Lord Jesus. Second Corinthians eight verse
nine. You know, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. How that
though he was rich, yet for your sakes, he became poor, that you
through his poverty might be made rich. Look at Philippians
chapter two, Philippians two. Paul says in verse one, if there
be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of
love. For any fellowship of the spirit,
any bowels and mercies, Fulfill you my joy that you'd be like-minded
having the same love being of one accord of one mind Let nothing
be done through strife of vain glory, but in lowliness of mind
let each esteem other better than themselves Look, not every
man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others
Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus what
mine this mind of utter? lowliness, this mind of utter
self worthlessness, this mind of utter humility, who being
in the form of God, what is that? Well, if he was like God, no,
being in the form of God is to be God, who being God thought
it not robbery to be equal with God. It wasn't something he had
to reach for. He is God. He thought it not
robbery to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself. He emptied
himself. And took upon him the form of
a servant. And was made in the likeness
of men. And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself.
He came here not just as a man, but as the most humble of men.
Born in a cow stable. And became obedient unto death.
Even the death of the cross. Our God's strength is made perfect
in weakness. And God determined that Christ's
weakness and humiliation be the means by which he would overthrow
his enemies and ours for the salvation of his people. He overcame
the tempter's power in the wilderness after 40 days of fasting. He
resisted Satan's assaults in the garden when his own heart
was overwhelmed with sorrow. He crushed the serpent's head
in death, and he snatched us from the pit of destruction from
going down to the pit by his omnipotent grace. The wisdom
of God made Christ humiliation the means of our exaltation.
Divine wisdom made Christ descent from heaven the means of us ascending
to heaven. God's wisdom made life the fruit
of death. The death of Christ was the only
means by which we could have eternal life. The death of one
who is God, the only means by which we can have life in God.
Our acceptance into God's favor arises from Christ dying under
God's wrath. The innocence that we have arises
from Christ being made guilty. Our righteousness from Christ
being made sin as sin reigned under death over God's son. Now, grace reigns in righteousness
unto eternal life. by the death of God's son, where
sin abounded, grace did much more about one more thing. I'll
be done. The Holy Lord God by infinite
wisdom and grace has made our sin and our misery the occasion
of our greatest possible blessedness. Where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. Our great God is so infinitely
wise and gracious that he turns our greatest misery to our greatest
good. Jonathan Edwards put it this
way. Divine wisdom has found out a way whereby the sinner
might not only escape being miserable, but that he should be happier
than before he sinned, yea, than he would have been if he had
never sinned. Sinful man is brought into a
nearer union and communion with God in the person of Christ than
we could ever have enjoyed had we never known sin. Had we never
seen Christ would not be our surety. He would not be our substitute. He would not be our savior. But
now God has assumed our nature in the person of his son. Now
we are members of his body. Christ is our brother and our
husband, and we are the sons of God. Our temporary separation
from God by sin has been made the means of eternal union with
God redemption our Lord Jesus when he comes to the end of his
prayer John 17 he's all of this father all of this that the world
may know and that my people may know that they are one with God one with God one with me as I
am one with my father man by reason of sin has a greater,
fuller knowledge of God's grace and his glory, his justice and
his holiness, his love and his mercy that he could ever have
known otherwise. Our redemption from sin by the
death of Christ causes us to know and to enjoy greater love
for God. Then we could ever know and enjoy
had we never sinned. Who loveth much, he who is forgiven much. We have the privilege now of
having a love for God indescribably superior to the love for God
that the sinless angels have in heaven. For we, having been
forgiven much, love Him as our Redeemer, our Forgiver, and our
Savior. And the angels look on this with
astonishment. The angels look on this with
astonishment. Did you ever pay attention to the fact that in
Genesis 2.17 The forbidden tree was called
the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. God's the one
who planted the tree in the garden. And he ordained that our father,
Adam, eat the fruit of that forbidden tree. To taste the evil of sin. Because he had wisely and graciously
determined. That his elect might know the
great and glorious good of redemption. Oh, happy fall. Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound. Oh may God cause His grace to
abound in you unto eternal life for Christ's sake. Amen.